Hüsnî İbrâhim Efendi was one of the pupils from outside the family trained by "Küçük Hâce" Kadızâde Mehmed İlmî Efendi, founder of the Hâcezâde line. He grew up in the Gökçekzâde family, notables of Amasya's Çeribaşı quarter, completed his education in Küçük Hâce's study circle, and became a professor and kadi; he died in 1074 (1663-64). The four-sentence entry devoted to him in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi calls him "âlim, şâir, edîb", learned, a poet, a man of letters, yet not a single couplet from his pen is known.

Life

The entry follows immediately after the one headed "Hüsnî Paşa-Şâh Hatun":

Amasyalıdır. Çeribaşı Mahallesi eşrâfından Gökçekzâde Ahmed Çelebi bin Abdülkerîm Çelebi mahdûmudur. Kâdızâde Mehmed İlmî Efendi’nin halka-i tedrîsinde ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm, müderris, ba’dehû kâdı olup 1074’de vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, edîb olup kudât-ı sütûde-simâtdan idi.

In English: Of Amasya; his father was Gökçekzâde Ahmed Çelebi, one of the notables of the Çeribaşı quarter, and his grandfather Abdülkerîm Çelebi. Having completed his studies in the circle of Kadızâde Mehmed İlmî Efendi, he advanced from ders-i âm to professor and then to kadi, and died in 1074. Learned, a poet and a writer of culture, he was one of the praiseworthy kadis.

The entry gives the three steps of his career in order: the rank of ders-i âm, which meant a licence to teach from the mosque lectern, a professorship in a madrasa, and the judiciary. The madrasas and districts are left unnamed, and neither his birth year nor his grave is known. The phrase "kudât-ı sütûde-simât" is a stock formula of praise and does not suggest any notable event in his judicial career.

His Teacher Küçük Hâce

Hüsnî's teacher Kadızâde Mehmed İlmî Efendi was a professor known in early seventeenth-century Amasya by the nickname "Küçük Hâce" (the Little Master); his father was Mustafa Efendi of Amasya, kadi of the town, and his grandchildren were known in the town as the "Hâcezâdes". Mehmed İlmî's own entry is not among the published volumes of the book, and his years of birth and death are unknown, so it is impossible to calculate in which years Hüsnî sat in his lessons. The teacher's sons studied in the same circle; the children of his son Remzî Abdullah Efendi, the poet Şevkî Mehmed Efendi and Hâmid Ahmed Efendi, carried the family a generation further. Hüsnî's entry also shows that the circle was not open only to the teacher's own sons. Küçük Hâce's descendants and circle can be followed together under The Hâcezâdes.

The Name Gökçekzâde

The name Gökçekzâde occurs once more in Hüsameddin, at a much earlier date. The twelfth volume records that Osmân Çelebi of the Ahî Sâbıkuddînzâde family studied "with learned men such as Şemseddîn Ahmed Kırımî and Gökçekzâde Musliheddîn Mustafâ", appears as a kadi in 883 (1478-79) and died after 890 (1485). This Musliheddîn Mustafâ was a scholar teaching in Amasya some two centuries before Hüsnî İbrâhim. The source does not say whether the two were related; a shared name alone does not prove a family tie.

Poetry

Hüsnî's death falls within the period covered by the lost anthology in which the professor Abdî Efendi collected the Amasya poets of the years 1000-1081. Hüsameddin, however, does not cite the anthology in this entry, so whether Hüsnî appeared in Abdî Efendi's anthology we cannot tell. His poetry is mentioned only within the sequence "âlim, şâir, edîb", with no couplet or work named. No poems by Hüsnî İbrâhim Efendi have been found. His name also appears in Metin Hakverdioğlu's survey of the poets in Amasya Tarihi.

Chronology

883 (1478-79): Osmân Çelebi, a pupil of Gökçekzâde Musliheddîn Mustafâ, appears as a kadi.

1074 (1663-64): Hüsnî İbrâhim Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources